How the first F1 Mercedes laid the path of greatness
When one of the giants of pre-war grand prix racing returned to the track in the 1950s, it did so with game-changing thoroughness. STUART CODLING examines the Mercedes W196
After tottering, stop-start, make-do-and-mend beginnings, top-level motor racing snapped into focus in 1954 as a new set of technical regulations came into force.
Their purpose, explicitly, was to encourage more manufacturers to get involved; the first two years of the world championship had been dominated by pre-war dinosaurs and then, once lack of funds and willpower shuffled those into extinction, two further seasons followed in which F2 cars filled the grids.
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